


Familiar

by Highsmith (quimtessence)



Category: The Old Guard (Movie 2020)
Genre: Canon Queer Character of Color, Canon Queer Relationship, Developing Relationship, First Kiss, First Time, Getting Together, Kink Meme, M/M, No Feminising Language, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Pre-Canon, Snark, Trans Joe | Yusuf Al-Kaysani, Trans Male Character, Unresolved Sexual Tension
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-02-22
Updated: 2021-02-21
Packaged: 2021-03-19 01:48:28
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,156
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29618733
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/quimtessence/pseuds/Highsmith
Summary: "Now you know," Nico tells him, and Yusuf groans, "You idiot," and while they're staring each other down their fire near-extinguishes itself, which has them scrambling for kindling in an almost comical fashion, but not before Nico's hand presses to the back of his for a long, excruciating moment.(Written forthisabsolutely gorgeous Kink Meme prompt.)
Relationships: Joe | Yusuf Al-Kaysani/Nicky | Nicolò di Genova
Comments: 14
Kudos: 91





	Familiar

So suddenly does he sit up from his bedroll to amble over to their dying fire he almost trips over his own feet. On the other side of their small camp, his back to the weak flames, Nico shifts not at all, which is reason enough for Yusuf to believe he is certainly wide awake. He swallows a sigh, then squares his jaw against a _tsk_ sound.

The coast may not be his first choice during wintertime, but, no matter Yusuf's feelings on their circumstances, it's been doubtlessly easier to avoid the vast majority of uncomfortable questions and general scrutiny from strangers during their travels by virtue of keeping to themselves on the outskirts of towns, what there is of those. However, he has grown tired of the way the two of them still tiptoe around each other, made increasingly more difficult to ignore precisely because there is no other soul to be found until the nearest village, which is at least a day's journey away.

One moment he is shyly allowed to call his companion Nico as if they were childhood friends, while the next he may receive but a handful of words spoken sullenly and at length dissipating into nothing but sour grimaces and terse answers to enquiries Yusuf always ends up wishing he'd never asked. Quicksilver through his fingers would be easier to predict than Nico's many and varied moods.

Above them, the moon has danced itself into the clouds, only periodically reappearing to shine Yusuf's shadow into the soil below. He tends to the fire, stoking it and adding kindling.

Louder than it is, strictly speaking, required for his voice to travel in the small space between them in order to be heard, he calls out, "Excellent news regarding," he pauses to crinkle his nose, "your tunic."

While every injury and hurt promptly heals itself these days with no more than vague relief on his part, Yusuf nearly flinches at Nico's teeth grating uncomfortably against each other inside his mouth and the sharp sound of his jaw shifting. When he turns, Nico is already sitting, groggily dragging a hand up and down his face, shoulders slumped. Perhaps he'd been, in fact, sleeping when Yusuf startled him, but time can't be turned back.

Eyes glittering even in the dim light feebly cast by their fire, Nico regards him warily. Yusuf decidedly does _not_ flinch.

"Your tunic has dried. I assumed you would like to hear of it."

Truly at his most nonverbal, Nico simply blinks owlishly before his jaw tightens further, his lips curling in that way of his that makes Yusuf's gut catch in a myriad of conflicting ways he often avoids parsing if only to sustain his sanity a little while longer.

They've been short with each other for no reason for weeks now. Yusuf knows why. Nico, however, may not, but Yusuf _prods_. Has always had a propensity towards prodding and poking and speaking out of turn.

He expects this to be the last of it for the night, Nico as likely to lay himself back to sleep as the sun is to rise come morning. However, he infuriatingly crawls closer until he is by Yusuf's side, just as stingy with his words as he's been the entire day. Yusuf is starting to wonder why they ever made the effort of learning each other's languages to the extent that they have when one of them simply chooses to glare and brood in the other's general direction instead.

Nico does shift to check his tunic, presumably to assess its dryness or inspect it for any residual blood stains. He had taken care of the hunting and skinning for their evening meal, but managed to make a mess and had to use the scant soap they still had to work the ample stains out before they set in and the tunic would become unbearable and thus unusable.

Inspection complete, though Yusuf is dubious one was at all necessary to begin with, he returns by Yusuf's side to sit in silence. Of course.

Yusuf cannot help but sigh, uncomfortably aware of their closeness. Doubly aware of the _silence_.

"Speak freely," Nico surprises him by saying. Eyeing him from the side, Yusuf eschews turning to him fully. It is too far into the night for certain conversations. Moreover, what he sees of Nico's face does not bode well, in that they may trade words neither would speak in the light of day and that both would ultimately regret. They both have tempers.

"When have I spoken unwillingly?" he attempts, and yes, it is an attempt at peace and quiet, though a clumsy one. Yusuf blames the late hour.

Nico does not meet him furtively in evading the conversation as Yusuf expected, as he often does when the only approach is sideways, telling it slant.

Instead, he mutters, "Your distractions grow weary," and Nico presently _does_ sound tired. "You know my meaning," he says on the next heavy exhale.

He may or may not have an inkling at what Nico is saying; however, he does not know why _he_ says, "What else is there to know?" Neither does he know why he turns, at long last, at this particular point, towards Nico, now that the warm darkness is finally enveloping them instead of at any other moment between dawn and just before their fire started crackling into ashes.

 _Slant,_ his mind provides the answer, but Yusuf is no longer listening to anything happening between his ears.

With a strangled noise, Nico launches himself towards him. Or, at least, it appears as such to Yusuf, but only for an instant. In fact, Nico merely leans into his space, slowly and carefully, stopping to breathe his breath in heady puffs before their body can touch at any single point. He does so while his eyes keep Yusuf's own locked. Then, after a length of time that could be minutes, hours or days, he asks, "Do you permit it?"

And Yusuf must mumble something in the affirmative. Even he isn't _that_ stupid. But Nico does not move, and Yusuf is certain he did no such thing as misunderstand him, thus he mumbles an approximation of Nico's name as he breaches the distance between them to press dry lips to Nico's own.

A second. He gets a second before Nico leans back.

"Now you know," Nico tells him, and Yusuf groans, "You idiot," and while they're staring each other down their fire near-extinguishes itself, which has them scrambling for kindling in an almost comical fashion, but not before Nico's hand presses to the back of his for a long, excruciating moment.

Their bedrolls remain apart, which is both frustrating and a relief given that Yusuf's mind is a ball of distress and overthinking until it finally tires itself out near dawn. The morning's light is hardly comforting, but the sight of Nico's bedroll across from his, oddly enough, is.

**Author's Note:**

> Id fic? Maybe. Sorta. You know. *flails*
> 
> Comments and kudos so very much greatly appreciated. Genuinely, my country for a horse and my feeble words for your... whatever. (It's very late here.)
> 
> Tumblr: [rhubarbdreams](https://rhubarbdreams.tumblr.com/)


End file.
